WATCH Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar

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hi everybody welcome back to know your

verbs my name is Alicia and in this

lesson we’re going to look at the verb

watch let’s get started

so the basic definition of the verb

watch is to focus the eyes on something

that is moving usually we expect it to

move so like now you’re watching this

video in a sentence let’s watch a movie

later can I call you back I’m watching a

baseball game so let’s look at the

conjugations for this verb present watch

watches past watched past participle

watched progressive watching

now let’s talk about some additional

meanings of this verb the first

additional meaning is to stay with

someone or to stay with something to

ensure safety like to kind of guard that

thing or to protect that thing examples

I have to watch my neighbor’s kids for a

couple hours can you watch my plants for

a while next month okay so in both of

these sentences we see the verb watch is

used to mean ensure the safety of

something in the first example sentence

it’s I have to watch my neighbor’s kids

so we’re ensuring the safety of the kids

in the second sentence we use plants can

you watch my plants it doesn’t mean like

forever like watch the plants grow it

means just make sure my plants are okay

while I’m out of town for something

similar it doesn’t mean watch my plants

forever it just means to make sure my

plants are safe like to take care of my

plants while I’m out of town for example

so also the nuance here the feeling here

is that this is just a temporary

situation so when we’re watching

someone’s kids or like watching

someone’s pet while they’re away it’s

just a temporary situation okay let’s go

to the second extra meaning for today

the second one the second meaning of

watch is to be careful of something to

be careful at something examples watch

your language

he needs to watch his weight so in both

of these we could replace be careful

with watch so in the first one we could

say be careful of your language in the

second one be careful of your weight so

in other words there’s some kind of

danger or you need to be careful because

some of the thing about your behavior or

something you’ve said something you’ve

done is maybe not a good idea so be

careful of that thing but we say watch

instead watch that thing instead of be

careful of that thing in addition so we

can also just use watch out as a set

phrase which means be careful in general

so if we’re in a situation where we

quickly want to warn someone of

something like danger something bad

might happen

we can say watch out really quickly so

watch out doesn’t mean like look or

watch something it means be careful we

always say watch out if you have time

and if you want to be specific you can

say watch out for something like watch

out for that car or watch out for that

child watch out for those bees watch out

for your computer it’s gonna follow

something like that we always say watch

out for or just in quick situations

watch out just means be careful as well

all right let’s go on to the first

variation so the first variation is

watch it watch it so watch it also means

be careful like watch out or just the

regular watch you’re something but watch

it is very casual and actually kind of

aggressive so watch it implies like if

you don’t take care I might do something

bad to you like it’s so it’s quite an

aggressive phrase examples watch it I’m

walking you better watch it kid you

better watch it or else I’m gonna do

something bad to you I don’t know so its

aggressive it’s an aggressive phrase and

you should not use it with people who

are above you you should not use it in

polite situations I would not really

recommend using this but you might see

this in TV shows in other media watch it

it means be careful but its aggressive

okay let’s go to the next variation the

next variation is to keep watch to keep

watch this means like to stand guard to

guard against like to protect something

this expression means like to guard

against danger and it often means alone

like often you’re doing it by yourself

while someone else likes sleeps so

examples I’m going to keep first watch

tonight you keep watch I’m going to get

some sleep so to keep watch means to

like to stay awake or to stay alert

looking for something that might be

dangerous so you can see this in movies

where like people are travelling

somewhere they’re camping out on the

side of the road like maybe in Lord of

the Rings or something where everybody’s

sleeping but one person is awake near

the fire watching to see if anything

dangerous happens and then they wake up

other people if something dangerous is

coming so they’re sort of the guard in

that case so to keep watch in that case

ok let’s go to the last variation

umm the last variation ok the last

variation is to watch ones back to watch

ones back mmm so to watch your back

let’s use that to watch your back means

to be cautious

about your safety to be cautious about

your safety so to be careful about

yourself

not because of some like physical object

like a bus is gonna come and get you

I don’t know no it means like someone an

enemy might try to do something bad to

you so watch your back examples of this

you’d better watch your back Stevens one

more example hey watch your back you’re

making enemies so in these cases watch

your back is said rather seriously and

with the meaning that you need to be

careful someone might try to hurt you in

the future it could be physically it

could be financially it could be like

your reputation whatever

watch your back mean be careful like

someone might try to hurt you in some

way however be careful this expression

watch your back is totally different

from got your back so watch your back

and got your back totally different got

your back is a support phrase like I’ve

got your back means I’m supporting you

no problem I will try to help you or

I’ll try to support you I’ll try to keep

you safe

I’ve got your back no problems watch

your back means be careful you might be

in danger you should be careful you have

enemies so quite different watch your

back got your back alright so I hope

that you got a few new meanings for the

verb watch that you can use there if you

have any questions comments or if you

want to try to use the verb watch please

feel free to do so in the comment

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very much for watching this episode of

know your verbs and we’ll see you again

next time bye

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